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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

I hope you're right, but early reports seem to indicate that Rawls and Hayes are just behind the pack in terms of knowledge of the offense. You could even see it in the rivals video when Rawls went through one of the drills and then you could hear some one telling him to watch how Vince does it. After Vince went through you could see a huge difference in just knowing how to do drills and such. There's plenty of time for them to catch up and Rawls highlight tape looked like exactly what I want our backs to play like, so my fingers are crossed.

He is a freshman and unproven i would love to see him break out but what are the chances. Was i the olny one that saw cox break a few pretty nice runs in the spring? And he had the extra speed to take it all the way on the one run. I think it was like 62 yards!!?

Your description just reminded me of why I can't shake the perception that Cox is just the poor man's Carlos Brown. Brown had similar size (a little smaller, but still no slouch) and even better (downright elite) speed. Just seemed to run upright and never had the vision/balance/lateral movement to be a consistent running back. Could "hit the hole and go" for 90 yard TD's all day against subpar competition but just couldn't get it done against a better defense.

Probably (certainly) unfair to paint Cox with that brush before he's gotten any meaningful carries against a real defense, but I just don't expect to be pleasantly surprised/proven wrong at this point.

I don't think its as simple as just hitting the hole and relying on natural instinct.

The problem with freshman is that in addition to grasping the offense (which not only includes terminology, but also includes protection schemes, route running, etc), they often have a lot to learn in terms of fundamentals such as pad level, ball security, and decision making.

I think most highly rated kids were able to get by without having done all the little things right because they had so much more natural ability than most HS players. When they hit the field in college, natural ability doesn't always cut it.

Now, I am not saying that any of this is true for Michigan's freshman RBs, because who knows. But its simply not that easy to walk in to the Big Ten and start from day one.

Watch his highlight real. The guy has an awesome combination of speed, power and moves. He's fun to watch, that doesn't mean hes gonna win the job, but I think there is a lot of optimism surrounding him.

Borges' most successful running backs have been guys like Hillman, Cadillac Williams, Kenny Irons (all small), and Skip Hicks (a little bigger, but really athletic and versatile catching balls out of the backfield).

I love Stephen Hopkins but I really don't think he is what they are looking for out of their every down back. I think he'll score a bunch of touchdowns next year but I doubt he'll get the bulk of the carries.

i'm hoping for a huge dose of toussaint this year, he absolutely kills in NCAA 11 and 12 so that means he can do it for real right? Fitz has always been one i've been very excited to see what he can do with the chance

Cox was B1G Network's pick to start last year ... but he for some unknown reason never saw the field in game situations last year. He most resembles the Tim & Tyrone runner as Michigan's past "manball" RB's.

Mike can bust tackles and has moves to make that 1st lineman or LB miss. I'm hoping that he gets a FULL chance this year! Fired up and ready for 9/3/11 ...

Go Blue!

No place on earth I'd rather be on a football Saturday than Michigan Stadium !

I would love to see Shaw reach his potential but I'm not holding my breath. The thing about Hopkins is he may not break the big one but he seems to be able to get the 5+ yards consistently. I also have always liked Smith and his work ethic I just don't see him as an every down back, I like the way he runs/blocks/catches though so I could see him getting a good amuont of playing time regardless of who wins the job.

I'll second your Shaw, with Smith as third-down back and the best of Rawls/Cox/Hopkins/Toussaint as short yardage/change of pace.

Another thing to keep in mind: Rawls and Hopkins have both been mentioned as part-time FBs. Passes to the FB in the flat are a staple of the West Coast offense. Whoever has the stickiest fingers is gonna get the ball with room to rumble.